Rethinking the unthinkable
by Doc Lee
Summary: Post Season 2 & a sequel to 'Seeing Red'. What happens at Oliver's next press event. Some MoS (& maybe SvB) references. Enjoy. Reviews welcome


Yup... Still alive, despite my attempts at taking myself out with my own cooking. Good news for anyone still waiting for more on 'When the fan gets hit' as my Muse has sudawoke revived itself and I'm currently Trying to work out how to get the blooming thing finished.

But first, this. Set after 'Unthinkable' and a sequel to 'Seeing Red'. It started out as one thing and most definitely ended as something else. Spoilers for all of Arrow, plus some for Man of Steel (and if the reports are correct, one for Superman Vs Batman).

Hope you all enjoy and like always, any and all constructive reviews and comments welcome :)

Disclaimer - Those that own Arrow are those that own Arrow... And I'm not one of them.

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'Ladies and gentlemen,' Oliver Queen spoke confidently into the microphone on the podium, 'It is an honour to be standing before you all today on this special occasion for this company.'

Glancing around himself, Oliver gulped as he was reminded of the last time he'd stood at the podium barely a few hours after he'd watched his mother murdered and had effectively offered his life for the city's. His actions had meant that, while there was a portion of the city that blamed him, they were in the minority.

'Oliver?' Felicity stepped beside him, concern in her eyes.

'Sorry,' Oliver gulped and shook his head, clearing the cobwebs, 'This is the first time I've stood behind a podium since... That night.' turning to Felicity, he gave her a warm smile and hoped his eyes convinced her he was alright.

'Starling City has suffered by actions my family and I have committed,' Oliver turned back to the audience, 'We have hurt this city and, if you would allow me, I and what remains of Queen Consolidated would like to try and fix a little of what we took from you.'

'As you can see behind me,' Oliver turned to the prefab buildings sat on the parking lot behind the stage, 'We have a handful of simple, comfortable prefabricated buildings Queen Consolidated have designed that, after many long meetings with the new Mayor's office, we will be offering free of charge to anyone in The Glades that have been left homeless by my mother's actions alongside Malcolm Merlyn.'

Oliver blinked as the camera flash bulbs blinded him momentarily.

'Yes,' Oliver nodded, 'I did say free of charge. We took your homes, your lives from you. It is the least I can do to give you a home again.'

'Mr Queen!' a dark haired reporter bellowed, 'Your company is almost bankrupt. How can you afford to do this?'

'Forgive me,' Oliver frowned, 'I don't believe we've met Mr...'

'Kent,' the man adjusted his glasses, 'Clark Kent, with the Daily Planet out of Metropolis. Queen Consolidated has barely survived. You've had to shrink the company down by 45% and you have laid off hundreds of workers.'

'Mr Kent,' Oliver took a moment before answering, a slight scowl on his face as he stared down at Clark, 'Yes, this company has suffered. We are damaged goods right now. But, through a series of deals and agreements that would make your head spin as bad as mine was, we have backing to assist us in this project.'

'Who?' Clark called out.

'Bruce Wayne and Wayne Industries,' Oliver replied simply, 'I'm sure you all can see the similarities between this project and their push to clean up the Narrows in Gotham. That's because it is the same project. Bruce owes me a rather big favour and i've used it to gain access to his facilities.'

'Mr Kent,' Oliver sighed, 'With the restructuring of Queen Consolidated, it is true that we have had to... We'll, we had to fire a lot of people. I hated it. Tried my best to keep the number down to a minimum, but the reality was that we had to fire people.'

'Everybody who was forced to leave,' Oliver continued, 'Was offered a place in this project. That was my final squeeze on Bruce and his generosity.'

'Thank you Mr Queen,' Clark sat back down.

'The rebuilding project isn't the only thing i am standing here before you to announce,' Oliver looked behind him to the tarp covering part of the large warehouse behind the mocked up houses, 'Queen Consolidated has always been at the forefront of technology and it's advances. Now I know that, in the recent years, the Applied Sciences division has a dark meaning to this city.'

'I would like to try and make Queen and technological advances words that can be said in the same sentence again,' Oliver winced, 'Now, with what I'm about to reveal, I know you all will have a lot of questions. Most I will be able to answer, but some I am unable to through still developing patents and business deals that we are creating.'

'I'm also probably about to have a very dear friend use their loud voice on me,' Oliver turned to smile at a thoroughly confused Felicity, 'So please be patience with me.'

'The Applied Sciences Division is no more,' Oliver stated, 'and while I have breath in my body, that name will never be part of my company. That is why today Queen Consolidated is proud to announce the unveiling of Smoak Technologies,' The tarp fluttered down, revealing the new moniker on the side of the building as the camera bulbs went into over drive.

'Smoak Technologies is part of the Queen Consolidated family of companies,' Oliver refused to turn to his left, where he could feel Felicity's glare locked onto his head, 'But when I suggested calling it 'The Smoak Technology Division' the rest of the board pointed out the unfortunate tag it would recieve,' Light chuckles wafted through the crowd, 'Smoak technologies will continue pushing the boundaries of technology and we expect to be able to announce the first new product within a year.'

'Mr Queen!' Clark bellowed again, his voice surprisingly loud over the rest of the reporters, 'Smoak? Why name it after your Executive Assistant?'

'I'm standing here before you all today because of her,' Oliver replied, 'I am alive because of her.'

'My last major speech,' Oliver felt his hand shaking, 'as you know I offered my life to Slade Wilson in return for him to leave this city alone. Felicity showed me another way. She stopped me from effectively killing myself.'

'There's a lot that we cannot legally reveal about what happened to stop Slade Wilson,' Oliver grimaced, 'But If I could... God, you'd be building this woman a statue to rival superman's in Metropolis,' Oliver gulped and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before speaking, 'Screw it.'

'Slade Wilson wanted me to pay, he wanted me to suffer. Felicity willingly offered herself as bait for him. We'd discovered he'd bugged my home, so we staged a little show for him in the h... Hope that he would take her. I had to stand next to the Arrow and watch Slade hold the same...' Oliver let out a ragged breath, 'The same goddamn sword he killed my mother with to her neck.'

In a repeat of the last press event, the gathered crowd became silent, all engrossed by Oliver's words.

'The plan,' Oliver gulped, 'Was to use Slade's fury to our advantage. Make him pick who we wanted him to think I loved the most in the world. We had the cure for the Miracuru, well, Felicity had the cure in a small syringe we'd hidden on her. Slade would be too distracted by his hated for me that he wouldn't see that he'd been played until he was neutralised.'

'So you now understand why i wanted to name this division after Felicity,' Oliver stubbornly refused to turn to her, knowing his control would break, 'What... What she has done for me... I can never repay her enough, but i can do this, give this city a legacy emblazoned with her name.'

'Mr Queen,' Clark grimaced, sending a glance to Felicity, 'if I may ask the rather obvious question...'

'Felicity Smoak and I are not in a relationship,' Oliver frowned at the disbelieving looks his statement received, 'really, we aren't. I know you all won't believe me when I say that,' There were a few agreeing voices in the crowd, 'But it's true. Now for the final announcement of this press event.'

Felicity tuned out Oliver's voice as she looked up at the large letters that made up her name emblazoned on e side of the building. She knew that this would make the rumours worse, but she didn't care.

'No one's given me a building before,' Diggle snorted softly, Felicity blushing when she realised she'd spoken the words aloud, 'Well they haven't John.'

The rest of the press event was sheer hell for Felicity, most of the gossip media hounding her and preventing her from doing her job. Eventually, the bottle blonde managed to evade the media scrum and ended up inside one of the show homes, curled up on the display couch with her headphones in her ears.

'Miss Smoak?' Felicity sighed when she heard her voice cautiously called. Opening her eyes, she realised the man calling her name was the Daily Planet reporter, 'I'm sorry to bother you but I was hoping to speak to you about your boss.'

'We aren't in a relationship,' Felicity frowned when Clark chuckled.

'Honestly Miss Smoak,' Clark smiled when Felicity muttered her name, 'Sorry, Felicity, your personal relationship to Oliver Queen is your business, not mine. What I'm interested in is your after hours relationship to Oliver Queen.'

'huh?' Felicity looked at Clark like he'd grown and extra head.

'Sorry,' Clark chuckled, 'Normally Diana does this. Felicity, we know that Oliver is the Arrow.'

'I don't know what they're putting in the water over in metropolis since the freaking Alien attack,' Felicity blustered, 'but you're delusional. Oliver Queen isn't the Arrow.'

'So why did your heart beat jump when I said he was?' Clark raised his finger, 'Relax, I'm not here to expose him. I'm here to try and recruit him.'

'Wait... What?' Felicity blinked, 'Recruit him, what does that mean?'

'Oliver Queen has the alter ego of The Arrow,' Clark sighed, 'For myself, Clark Kent is the alter ego. My real name is Kal-El.'

'You... You're him!' Felicity gasped, 'The one that the douchebag wanted!'

Clark nodded, suddenly finding himself with Felicity hugging him.

'Your people!' Felicity was blushing hard when she pulled back, 'Oh my god, it's horrible. I just... You're the last of an entire race and it must be so... Oh god, why?' she turned away, Clark's hearing picking up her near silent countdown.

'She does that a lot,' Oliver leant against the doorframe, 'If you'd told me you were coming today Kal, I'd have arranged a better seating position for you.'

'I can still hear perfectly fine at the back Oliver,' Clark rolled his eyes as Felicity turned her fuming ones on Oliver, 'It was nice knowing you.'

'OLIVER JONAS QUEEN!' Felicity bellowed, 'WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING, NAMING THAT AFTER ME?!'

'Exactly what I said out there,' Oliver calmly replied, 'You deserve a statue like that ass is getting, but I can't do that, I can only do this.'

'Why didn't you warn me?' Felicity stared up at Oliver, her eyes boring into his.

'I knew you wouldn't let me,' Oliver sighed, 'I know you hate the attention as much as I do, but you saved the freaking city. People should know that.'

'Are you two seriously going to keep the whole no relationship thing going?' Clark huffed, two pairs of eyes turning to him, 'Both of your heart beats have doubled in speed now you're standing next to each other and,' Clark grimaced, 'Pheremones. You two stink.'

'Kal,' Oliver grumbled as Felicity buried her face in his chest, 'You know I hate it when you do that. What did you really want coming here? I know it's not because of the press event.'

'Diana wants you to come in and become a full member,' Clark shrugged, 'She'd be here, but it was decided she was the better one to talk to Namor after what my people did to the Indian Ocean.'

'I need to sort out Starling before I can join your merry men Kal,' Oliver sighed, 'This one,' Oliver realised he'd wrapped his arms around Felicity, 'Has me slowly realising I'm not the broken person I thought I was, but I need to do this first.'

'Fair enough,' Clark smiled, 'you really aren't helping that statement Oliver.'

Felicity turned her head to glare at Clark, but gasped when he suddenly vanished, the curtains by the open patio doors fluttering.

'He does that a lot,' Oliver chuckled, 'Same goes for flying in through open penthouse windows. We had to give Thea the heimlich the first time he did it.'

'Oh dear,' Felicity giggled. Sobering she sighed, 'Why Oliver?'

'Because I can,' Oliver switched gears as quickly as she'd done, 'Because I want to and because I wouldn't have any of this without you and...'

'And what?' Felicity gulped, her eyes capturing his.

'I.. I meant what I said out there,' Oliver grimaced, 'People I love die, or go through such devastation and hardships that they lose all that it amazing and beautiful about them. I can't have that happen to you. I need you beside me more than...'

'You are a fool Oliver,' Felicity rolled her eyes, 'I'm in danger already, and your little speech out there along with plastering my name on that building has just made me a bigger target.'

Oliver paled dramatically.

'Stop changing your name to Drama and open your damn eyes,' Felicity felt her frustrations filling her voice, 'I am here. Right here and I'm not going anywhere. I know you just said it as part of that goddamn ruse, but I'm so freaking in love with you it's insane.'

'I can't lose you,' Oliver choked out.

'Then take me!' Felicity blushed as she realised just what she'd said. Clamping her eyes shut, she huffed and opened them, 'You know what mean Oliver. I am right here. Ready, waiting. You jump off skyscrapers without a second thought, but you can't just jump me... OH GOD!'

High in the sky over the event, Clark laughed, his ability to see amazingly long distances combined with his X-Ray vision meant he was able to watch when Oliver bent down and pressed his lips over Felicity's.

'Looks like you owe me $20 Bruce,' Clark muttered before flying off towards Metropolis.


End file.
